Metal Veterans ArchEnemy, Huntress and Kreator came out to TheGothicTheatre as part of their North American tour. Huntress was the opener band and they proved that they can hang with the headliners. Very energetic and full of stage charisma front woman Jill Janus and her bandmates delivered a modern sonic attack while staying true to the roots of heavy metal, with a penchant for thrash, death and black metal.

Huntress lead singer Jill Janus photo: David Burke

Huntress vocalist Jill Janus photo: David Burke

Kreator, who released their latest studio album, Phantom Antichrist, in 2012, is a Slayer-caliber thrash metal outfit, yet for some reason they never broke out in the same way as their Big 4 (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax) contemporaries. Frontman Mille Petrozza held court over the audience with his calls for a “circle pit,” which were answered by the audience with just that. It was a very old-school experience as the band tore through classics such as “Pleasure To Kill,” “Extreme Aggression,” and “Endless Pain,” but their newer material like “Violent Revolution,” “Civilization Collapse,” and “Phantom Antichrist” is totally crushing and comes across superbly in a live setting. I can’t say enough about how totally, unbelievably awesome Kreator is and how this band deserves the utmost respect from metal fans the world over. Always perfect show men, they know how to physical put and a very interesting show as bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler was more than glad to show my camera some love!

Kreator bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler photo: David Burke

Arch Enemy lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz photo: David Burke

While I’ve seen Kreator a few times, this was my first experience with Arch Enemy. I was only slightly familiar with the band’s back catalog, but had been giving their new album, War Eternal, a lot of attention recently. I’ll admit, the draw for me was the addition of singer Alissa White-Gluz. The former Agonist front woman is a vegan and big into animal rights (she’s also dating former Misfits guitarist Doyle, who is also a vegan).

photo: David Burke

Lead singer Alissa White-Gluz, clad in tattered pants and tank top, immediately commanded the stage, jumping onto a platform to stand above her male bandmates and connect with the audience. Her singing style is of the guttural “Cookie Monster” style and hearing such a tremendous, demonic-like voice come out of such a small girl, who happens to be gorgeous, is a shock at first, but the 29-year-old Canadian singer is a true performer. She also bears resemblance to a heavy metal version of Katy Perry.

The Kreator/Arch Enemy performance was one of the best heavy metal shows I’ve seen this year, and just further solidified my love for Kreator and has made an ArchEnemy fan out of me. The tour is halfway through North America, so check out the full list of tour dates here below and if it’s coming to your area, I strongly suggest you gave a ticket and get ready to bang your head through a great group of metal acts.